Is there a way to detect disk .ie partitions below O/S level?

You could try SeaTools for DOS

SeaTools for DOS has replaced SeaTools Desktop and PowerMax. SeaTools for DOS can test Seagate or Maxtor Parallel ATA (PATA and IDE) and Serial ATA (SATA) interface disc drives. Because the software boots to its own operating system you can test your drive regardless of the OS installed on it. You can even test a new or completely blank drive. SeaTools for DOS will instruct the drive to run its built in Drive Self Test (DST) and give either a pass or fail status. If you are troubleshooting your disc drive and the DST passes, then you have a good drive!

Learn more about SeaTools for DOS. —> [url] http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/s … cId=170511[/url]

See the tutorial on the usage of SeaTools for DOS. —> [url] http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools … indows.pdf[/url]

Download SeaTools for DOS now! —> [url] http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?l … ee0a0aRCRD[/url]

What I was thinking is when you do a win install it show you all available partitions in raw format & would I be able to delete affected partition & create a new partition & format in NTFS to get around MFT issue assuming I was very careful?

If not detected you could try Fdisk http://www.brothersoft.com/downloads/fdisk.html or several other third party utilities that do the same job.

Thanks mate,I’ll check ’em out!

Was worried I would have to take it back to store & RMA the HDD,which isn’t a big deal but my brother would be without his computer for at least a week according to MSY in Clayton (that’s Victoria folks!).

I wasn’t going to admit to MSY the issue was PEBCAK related!

i used to play prince of persia on dos on windows 3.1 lol

Description:
Application popup: Windows – Delayed Write Failed : Windows was unable to save all the data for the file [name_of_the_file_you_want_to_save].

The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.

Cause:
This problem occurs when the data redirector of a System flushes the contents of the file, and writes to a file handle with read-only access instead of to a file handle with write access.

When the redirector received an opportunistic lock break to none, it purged the cache for the file, but did not uninitialize the cache for the file.
More Information:
The redirector also needed to purge and uninitialize when the set end of file occurs because the opportunistic lock break is asynchronous. Because it did not uninitialize the cache for the file, it wrote to the incorrect file handle.

Remediation:

Warning: Serious problems might occur if you configure the registry incorrectly by using the Registry Editor. Microsoft recommends that you create a backup of your current registry before making changes.

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then press ENTER.
3. In Registry Editor, locate the following subkey in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSet ServicesLanmanServerParameters
4. In the right pane, click EnableOplocks, and then press ENTER.
5. In the Value data box, type 0, and then press ENTER.
6. Quit Registry Editor.

Reference:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=812937

Thank You all for your responses to this problem.

Inglorious,I ran DOS version of Seatools & did a low-level format / then ran windoze disk to create a RAW partition / booted into O/S & the drive was detected!
Right clicked & chose quick format with NTFS & rebooted & now the drive appears to be accessible / writable…!!!! 😀

@ Moe, I wish I had seen your post at 7am this morning when I started all the above,only just finished within the last 15 mins.

Issue appears resolved but I will update this thread if I’ve jumped the gun. 😉

Cheers

i0n

All good Ion.